Practice question

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex comprises Ixodes tick-borne spirochetes causing Lyme borreliosis, the most common vector-borne illness in temperate regions worldwide. These diderm spirochetes possess linear chromosome and numerous linear and circular plasmids encoding antigenically variable outer surface proteins OspA-OspC facilitating immune evasion through antigenic switching. Characteristic flat-wave morphology and periplasmic flagella enable dissemination through connective tissue leading to erythema migrans, arthritis, carditis, and neuroborreliosis. Taxonomy within Spirochaetaceae genus Borrelia distinguishes it from Treponema pallidum and Leptospira interrogans based on genetics and ecology.